"Rumsfeld was the worst secretary of defense in American history. Being
newly dead shouldn’t spare him this distinction. He was worse than the
closest contender, Robert McNamara, and that is not a competition to
judge lightly. McNamara’s folly was that of a whole generation of Cold
Warriors who believed that Indochina was a vital front in the struggle
against communism. His growing realization that the Vietnam War was an
unwinnable waste made him more insightful than some of his peers; his
decision to keep this realization from the American public made him an
unforgivable coward. But Rumsfeld was the chief advocate of every
disaster in the years after September 11. Wherever the United States
government contemplated a wrong turn, Rumsfeld was there first with his
hard smile—squinting, mocking the cautious, shoving his country deeper
into a hole. His fatal judgment was equaled only by his absolute
self-assurance. He lacked the courage to doubt himself. He lacked the
wisdom to change his mind." -- George Packer in "How Donald Rumsfeld Deserves To Be Remembered," in The Atlantic.
